Elixir
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Post by Elixir on Dec 14, 2010 16:30:04 GMT -5
Brazil huh, well that explains the temperature for sure.
Elixir looks at Solo, "I'll get Windchill and we can leave ASAP."
This looks like a much more direct war on drugs than any I've heard before, but a drug like this has to be stopped.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2010 19:00:31 GMT -5
Solo ready for Action waits for Elexir to get Windchill, says bye to Chung, and thanks him and that Solo owed Chung "one". Then he focuses on the Ministry of Defense to meet Sable in Eastern Europe, and teleports there.
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 15, 2010 11:50:05 GMT -5
Elixir goes back up into the attic to retrieve Windchill, who is still unconscious and feverishly hot. He lies in a pool of what seems like sweat, except for the bits of ice in it. Apparently his powers flared up while he was unattended. His face is still scraped up from hitting the pavement when Ferine flattened him.
After getting things ready to go [ooc: I'm assuming Solo is grabbing up the weapons from his wish list] Solo teleports Elixir and Windchill to the Ministry of Defense building in Aniana, Symkaria.
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Elixir is disoriented from the sudden change of venue, queasy but not as gut-wrenchingly nauseous as the sudden jump from New York to Brazil.
The trio appear in the middle of an operations center inside the Symkarian Ministry of Defense. Large monitors line the walls, displaying maps of locations all over the world. They are met by armed Symkaria soldiers at gunpoint, but they withdraw when Sable barks an order at them in the Symkarian dialect of Hungarian.
"Not one for knocking on the front door, are you Solo?" Sable quips at Solo. "It's just as well that we knew you were coming. Your ability to appear in the middle of a target zone and secure it quickly is why we pay you so well for the wetworks. Have you ever considered going into the assassination business? You could change the world in a day, you know. Probably why SHIELD has a KOS order on you. Kill on sight. All hell would break loose if they knew you were on our payroll. Not that SHIELD has the time and resources to scour the Earth for a teleporter, given how far HYDRA has infiltrated their operational hierarchy. But enough of that. Fury is a good man, he's probably more aware of his problems than we are."
Sable walks around the three, looking over Elixir and Windchill.
"Mutants, huh. I'm sure we'll be hearing from Doom up north in the morning about you coming here. We'd love to know how he detects mutants at long range. Not even your country's technologists have mastered that yet. But widespread short range detectors networked into a central law enforcement database could be just as efficient, I suppose. Hopefully your government will back away from its idea to register mutants, but I fear all the groundwork has been laid for that already. They're just looking for an excuse to open that box. An excuse like what happened today in New York. So this is the mutant that attacked the news helicopter? He doesn't look like much. How long has he been using Kick? Where did he get it?"
Sable snaps her fingers and motions to a Symkarian soldier. She says something to him in Symkarian, and he and another place some sort of bracelets on him with circuitry.
Sable says "The nullifier cuffs will block him from using his powers and mask his mutant bio-signature. We'll take care of him, see if we can get his addiction under control."
The soldiers load Windchill up on a stretcher and carry him away.
"Now, about this Kick. Your last mission for us, Solo, had you destroying a cache of weapons shipped from North Korea, the Dreadnought robots. They were guarding a shipment of Kick that I understand SHIELD has now impounded. Apparently the Maggia and HYDRA are trading with each other, arming up for some sort of domestic turf war on the eastern seaboard of the United States. I understand some HYDRA agents were arrested by SHIELD that mysteriously disappeared into piles of dust during questioning. We can't verify that for sure, given that our own infiltrators in SHIELD are at risk of exposure by Fury's task force rooting out HYDRA infiltrators. The United States intelligence community is in disarray, picking each other off. The Kobra faction of HYDRA is really doing a number on them, using SHIELD's Life Model Decoy androids to push this 'Janus Directive.' I wouldn't be surprised if Captain America's takedown of the 'Secret Empire' failed to root out all of the robots impersonating intelligence officials and politicians."
Sable looks at Elixir. "The things you don't know about your government would scare the hell out of you."
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Elixir
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Post by Elixir on Dec 17, 2010 12:30:39 GMT -5
Elixir looks on like a deer in the headlights at what Sable just disclosed. Instinctively though, he trusts what she's saying.
"You mean...HYDRA has infiltrated SHIELD, and I'm guessing a Life Model Decoy is some kind of simulacrum...What do you know about the Paladin Institute? They're mixed up in this as well."
Then remembering Windchill he says, "His name is Windchill and he's presumably got family back in the States. Is he just going to disappear for a while? He only got one injection of Kick, and this is the variety."
Elixir extends his hand with the syringe in it.
"I can let you take some for a sample, but I need to keep some to study on my own as well. I don't have your facilities for sure, but I know my way around a laboratory."
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 18, 2010 2:58:08 GMT -5
"Windchill. Interesting code name. He will be taken care of."
She does not take the syringe. "That's a prepared injection. Probably degrading by now. Still, the ingredients may shed some light on who made it."
Sable appeared shocked that Elixir knew of the Paladin Institute.
"The Paladin Institute is... a confidential client." She turned, and motioned Solo and Elixir to follow her into a private office.
She barks an order in English to a man sitting a a communications console. "Find out why Glitch has not reported in."
Once the door closes behind the two, Sable offers a seat and pulls up a file on a computer terminal and displays it on a widescreen monitor on her desk. Sable prepares a video intelligence report to play, but doesn't start it.
"On the yardstick of morality, the Paladin Institute are the 'good guys.' They just have a lot of well kept skeletons in their closets."
Sable pauses for dramatic effect.
"Kick is one of those skeletons. Or rather, Kick is a genie out of one of their bottles."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2010 20:45:00 GMT -5
"Why doesnt that suprize me?" Solo awnsers Sable,"Paladin has some Skeletons that make the CIA's like harmless ponies, it seems", he then looks confused,"Who is Glitch if I may ask?"
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 19, 2010 2:37:30 GMT -5
"Glitch is one of our operatives, but a freelancer like yourself. He's a mutant. Technically a cyberpath. Hacks computers telepathically, somehow. The Paladin Institute hired him to retrieve some data from various agencies, data we'll be getting access to as well. He's helped with some of the intel work that's led to some of your sucessful missions for us, Solo. He's the one that gave us the information in the video I'm about to play for you. About the Paladin Institute's involvement with Kick."
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 24, 2010 9:42:49 GMT -5
Without any questions from Solo and Elixir, Sable says "This video will elaborate a little bit on the Paladin Institute. We don't know much about the size and scope of their operations, only that they're an organization that has been around for 400 years, and throughout that time many prominent names in archaeology, anthropology, philosophy, religion, mysticism, and occult lore have had some association with them. They're ostensibly treasure hunters, but the items they seek usually involve legends of supernatural powers and entities. Most of this is kept out of your school books. Well, you'll see."
Sable clicks "play" on the video queued up on her computer monitor.
After a splash of file numbers and text in Symkarian / Hungarian, the video changes to yellowed archival footage of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, ranting before legions of Nazi stormtroopers standing in attendance. Hitler holds aloft a weathered, ancient Roman spear. A graphic identifies the scene as "Nuremberg, Germany - October 14, 1938, seven months after the Nazi German annexation of Austria."
The narrator of the video identifies the spear as the "Spear of Longinus, also known as the Spear of Destiny." The Spear is said to be a holy relic and powerful magical artifact. Legend has it that the Spear was used by a Roman soldier named Longinus to pierce the side of Jesus of Nazareth at his crucifixion, and that whoever possessed it would be able to conquer the world.
A brief overview of the history of the Spear and the conquerors that possessed it and their fates when they lost it traces it from Theodosius to Alaric to Constantine to Charles Martel through Napoleon Bonaparte's attempts to claim it and through the succession of Austrian royal houses that kept it until Hitler acquired it in 1938.
The video's narrator continued, "Even as the Third Reich secured Austria under Hitler's control, Nazi occult researchers were seeking a way to access the legendary powers of the Spear. They succeeded."
"The control of the Spear by the Third Reich prevented American superheroes, particularly those with magic-based origins or powers from intervening in World War 2, creating a Sphere of Influence that would affect such heroes to fall under Hitler's sway when they enter into it."
"As a result, most of the superhuman community among the Allies who had powers based upon or resulting from magic could not enter the European theater. The All Star and All Winners Squadrons restrained their activities to homeland defense or operations in the Pacific theater against the Japanese. Only mutants born with their powers, altered humans, aliens and robots could be sent into Europe, as seen with Captain America and the Invaders, or the Creature Commandos."
"But Nazi weapons science were producing many prototype technological terrors that could have expedited their conquest of the world. Giant robots. Mind control lasers. Unstoppable clones. Something had to be done. The Paladin Institute, known then only as an obscure historical and theosophical society of academics came forward to the United States government proposing an experimental program to create a new "Super Soldier" biophysical alteration formula to combat the Nazi threat, building on what little could be recovered from the loss of the scientist that sucessfully transformed an Army recruit into Captain America, but adding superhuman powers to the arsenal. Thus began the Paladin Institute's wartime cooperation with the US military. though they made it explicitly clear that their involvement was only to combat the "magical threat" posed by Hitler's possession of the Spear of Destiny. The Paladin Institute's experiments were never successful in permanently bonding superhuman powers to a test subject, and their association with the US military faded after the war."
"However, this was not the last of the Paladin Institute's experiments in metahuman biophysical enhancement. One of their anti-Nazi wartime experimental formulas was somehow leaked on the internet in 1993, which hit the streets as a new drug, called "Kick," after the exuberant rush of power the user feels under its effects. Though retaining the name, "Kick" has evolved in the ensuing years, as different variants of the formula's ingredients and dosages have been produced. The African island of Genosha leads the world in customization of the Kick formula, drawing upon their statistically large and persecuted mutant population for genetic materials to tailor the drug to induce specific superhuman powers. Current variants may also include pseudo-Kryptonite, an artificial compound derived from attempts to manufacture the extraterrestrial material that seems to weaken the alien hero Superman."
Sable stops the video.
"The Paladin Institute's experiments led to the drug known as Kick. They weren't even aware of the connection between their old research and the new drug until recently. Because of our assistance to them in ... other concerns throughout the years, they contracted our agent Glitch to try to find the weakness in the security of their computer databases that allowed their experimental files to fall into the wrong hands. In this business, I don't trust anybody. But if the chips were down, yes or no, I would probably say I trust the Paladin Institute's intentions. They've otherwise run a tight ship. Most intelligence agencies have never even heard of them. Mine barely has. We like it that way."
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Elixir
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Post by Elixir on Dec 24, 2010 10:18:41 GMT -5
"Wow...just...wow." Elixir's face registers his amazement at the recent disclosure from Sable.
"Right now they're trying to find amulets that are related to a book written by Bartholomew Jacobs. This must be big if they're willing to go semi-public. Also, the Romani family mystics are aware of this and involved."
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 24, 2010 10:46:26 GMT -5
Sable cocks her head at the mention of the Romani. "As many gypsies from the Balkans ended up in death camps, they can be indispensible in their assistance against Nazi-derived menaces. I probably don't have to tell you magic is as real as genocidal Adamantium-clad robots and supermen from other planets. We're not equipped to deal with threats of the paranormal variety. The Paladin Institute seems to be. It was them that convinced the US government of the threat posed by Hitler's possession of the Spear of Destiny before they unwittingly sent their superhuman agents to fall under his control. As for the Spear itself, both the Russians and the United States claim to possess it now. Apparently its curse is true. An hour after the artifact was lost by Hitler, he killed himself in his bunker. Or at least one of his clones did. One was burned alive by the original Human Torch. Another slain by the mysterious Unknown Soldier. Still others act as the supervillain called the Hate Monger today. It's as confusing as Atlantean politics and border wars."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2010 23:00:47 GMT -5
Solo just starres with a look of deep contemplation. This was all alot to handle,"So do you know where the spear is today? And how will this help us against the war on kick if it cursed? I personnally have accept sorcery exist, but I dont trust it. Thats why we need a specialist. Our previous specialist died vallianlty in combat. At the worst time."
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 29, 2010 10:11:51 GMT -5
Sable says, "The Spear of Destiny's true whereabouts are unknown. Both the American and Russian governments act as if they have it locked up in a highly secure location. Maybe they both think they have it. Maybe neither of them do. But that's not the point. The point is that the various Allied attempts to artificially create metahuman soldiers in World War 2, the formula that became Kick included, were meant to counter the mind control effects of the Spear over anyone with magical or psionic powers that entered the range of its influence. The Dragon King's possession of the Holy Grail had a similar effect on Japanese soil in World War 2. Regardless, we're not looking for the Spear or the Grail, but rather just giving some insight on where Kick came from originally. Our main fear is that Kick has the potential to become weaponized as a component in viral toxin agent. You think junkies erupting with out-of-control super powers are chaotically frightening, imagine the legacy of Kick becoming a communicable disease that causes mutants and others naturally born with powers to go out of control! I don't think we can put Kick back in the genie bottle. But we can take out people working on developing the raw formula into something more potent as we find them. That means shutting down HYDRA cells working with it, assassinating government scientists, destroying labs. You know, the things we're good at. The Paladin Institute's involvement is tangential only in that they invented what became Kick and the secret got away from them. To them, Kick is just another dangerous drug the terrorists and organized criminal black marketeers are trying to monopolize."
Sable pauses for a moment, then continues. "As I said before, the Paladin Institute is oriented towards supernatural and paranormal threats. We go after terrorists and war criminals. They go after ghosts and demons and magical monsters. Doesn't seem likely that the Paladin Institute and Silver Sable International would have a common goal except in the overlap of dealing with the mad sciences of lost Nazi technology. They seem to believe HYDRA has acquired a Nazi weapons technology that allows a subject to project his mind as a physically interactive form anywhere in the world. A psionic telepresence weapon of sorts called 'the Hypnoporter" originally concieved by war criminal Arnim Zola. The Paladin Institute analysts warn that use of this Nazi weapon has a perhaps unintended consequence of thinning dimensional barriers between reality and the realms of demons. I don't know about all that, but the possibility of Zola's weapons in the hands of HYDRA is enough to get us involved."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2010 4:05:49 GMT -5
"I have seen these arcane "hologramms", and have also experienced another threat.", Solo pauses for a moment."I was exposed to a weird chemical weapon that created hallucinations. I was in my old suit and was almost killed in the hallucination. It seemed very real, like LSD, only much more intence id imagine.
Weirdest thing was when I woke up I still in my old suit when I woke up. It seems it not only does a hallucination cut also warps reality to atleast a small degree. I have blown up the facilityso those bombs or grenades wont be a problem, but those responsible will have probably more. For me as for you this magic stuff is very alien and not something I like dealing with.
Heck alot of this stuff Im not sure to believe! But either way hydra has some crazy weapons, and we need to stop them before they can do more harm."
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Post by Dead Sidekick on Dec 31, 2010 8:06:18 GMT -5
Sable raises her eyebrows at Solo in surprise, "Arnim Zola's Hypnoporter was fueled in part by hallucinogenic compounds he derived from notes from a 9th Century Spanish alchemist! If those Dreadnought robots you destroyed were guarding both a cache of Kick and a cache of psychoactive potions, that's a major discovery we were unaware of!"
Sable puts her forehead in her hands, as she leans forward at her desk, deep in thought. She straightens up in her chair and says with a concerned look on her face, "My God. Someone on customized Kick and connected to the Hypnoporter could project themselves anywhere, with whatever metahuman powers the Kick imbued them with! They'd be unstoppable. And they might not even realize they're being controlled by whoever's running the Hypnoporter. Anyone whacked out on Kick could become an untraceable soldier in HYDRA's grand scheme. This is bad. Very bad. Did you see anything like this in the warehouse?"
Sable calls up an image of glass globes filled with various colored liquids on her screen. "Anything like these?"
The globes are precisely like the one Deadpool threw at the Dreadnought robots and like those that spilled out of the crate on the pier during the fight with the Dreadnoughts, confirming Sable's fears.
"That warehouse belonged to the Nefaria crime family. A lot of smuggling ran through that warehouse in partnership with the Jade Phoenix Clan of the Yakuza out of Japan. We know a major meeting between Nefaria and the Yakuza was disrupted by some reptilian monster that appeared out of thin air. Informants have told us the Jade Phoenix Clan was supposed to recieve those Dreadnought robots but because they didn't, they were expecting compensation from Nefaria. And that the creature that attacked that meeting claimed to be working for a new gang called the Faces of Fear."
Sable stands up at her desk. "This is crucial. If you can find who those globes were supposed to be shipped to, we'll know which gang HYDRA is working to play all the other gangs against each other. I'm going to offer you both an open retainer. One million dollars if you and your friends can get inside this gang war and find where those globes were supposed to be delivered. I'll give you half now to get started. This Hypnoporter must be destroyed!"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2010 19:22:22 GMT -5
Solo nodded when she she showed the globe,
"I agree we need to destroy this device. We did run into some, what I presume are ninja assassins. Me and Vendetta took out a couple, and they seemed too crumble to dust. Maybe there is a connection there. Im sure Elexir and the rest of the group will do everything to find and destroy this hypnoporter."
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